Driver fails breath test after night of shandy drinking

An Audi driver who says he had been drinking shandies has been banned from the road after he failed a roadside breath test.

Ryan John Morton, 30, of Larch Avenue, Shirebrook, was pulled over by police in the early hours of September 10.

He had been heading along the A57 at Worksop, in the direction of Sheffield, when officers stopped him at around 12.50am.

For the Crown Prosecution Service at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court, Mark Kennedy, said that the officers had spotted the A4 vehicle ahead of them and had been travelling at speed and had been changing lanes.

The suspected he had been drinking and asked him when he had his last drink.

At first he said 20 minutes before, then 30 minutes, then changed it to an hour.

A road-side breath test revealed he had 47 mcgs of alcohol in 100 mls of breath.

The legal limit is 35 mcgs.

He was arrested and taken to the police station where he was tested again and blew 40 mcgs, the reading which was used by the Crown Prosecution Service in court.

Representing himself in court, Morton was asked if he would like to explain his actions and he said: “I just had a few drinks, a few shandies. My mate was drinking lemonade tops (lager with a dash of lemonade) so I do not know if I got mixed up with them.”

He was banned for 12 months and made to pay out £550 in fines and costs.

Asked if it was likely he would lose his job at a courier’s firm, Morton said he was uncertain because at the time he had not informed his bosses of his court case.

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